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UNITED STATES PATENT Ost ich.

ELIJAPI G. CHESTER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OFTYVO-THIRDS TO EMIL SUTRO, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AND PAUL E. SUTRO, OFPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ART OF MAKING STOCKlNGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,421, dated April 3,1888.

Application filed June 22, 1887. Serial No. 242,156. (Specimens) To allwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELIJAH G. CHESTER, a citizen of the United States,and a. resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certainImprovements in the Art of Making Stockings, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates more particularly to that class of stockings inwhich the soles are made of different material from the rest of thestocking, the object in such cases being to permit the stockings to bemade with soles thicker and stronger than is required or deiirable forthe upper part of the foot and the In my patent, No. 365,671, dated June27,

1887, I have described a mode of making stockings of this character witheconomy of manufacture and with freedom from seams on the soles and onthe sides of the heels.

My present invention is an improvement on the method of manufacturedescribed in said application.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating themanner of cutting the tubes for the legs and upper part of the feet ofthe stockings. Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating the manner of knittingthe sole and heel-piece onto the leg. Fig. 3 is a view illustrating themanner of cutting the sole and heel piece preparatory to seaming to theupper part of the foot. Fig. 4 is a View of the finished stocking. Figs.5 and 6 are viewsillustrating modifications, and Fig. 7 is a diagram ofa modification.

The knitted tubes out of which the bodies and upper parts of the feet ofthe stockings are formed are severed, as illustrated in Fig. 1, withtransverse cuts a and to, extending about half-way through the tubesfrom opposite sides and from different points, these cuts beingconnected by a central longitudinal cut, Z There are thus formed twostocking-tubes, A and A, with projecting semitubular parts (Z, so as toform the legs and upper parts of the feet of the two stockings. In eachstocking the projecting part (2 forms the upper part of the foot, whilethe leg of thestocking is formed from the other part of the tube. Theblank 50 thus cut is transferred to another knittingmachine by runningor picking the stitches at the cut a (or, in other words, at the back ofthe heel) onto the needles of the machine, and a strip, E, of thedesired yarn is then knitted onto the cut blank to form the heel andsole of the stocking, as shown in Fig. 2. Notches e are then cut in thesole and heel piece, as indicated in Fig. 3, and the cut edges of eachnotch are then seamed together,'and the edges of the strip E are seamedto the edges of the semi-tubular strip d. If the strip E is to ex tendaround the toe, as indicated in Figs. 4 and 5, notches 6, similar to thenotches e, are cut and seamed in the same way, Figs. 3, 4, and 5. Insuch case the extreme end as of the strip E may also be seamed to theend of the strip d, as indicated in Fig. 4, or they may be loopedtogether by transferring the stocking to a second knittingmachine. Inthe latter case there will, as indicated in Fig. 5, be no seam over thetoe.

Instead of running the stitches at the back of the heel onto the needlesof the second machine to knit the strip E of the desired yarn onto thecut blank to form the heel and sole of the stocking, the stitches at thetoe of the blank may be run on or picked onto the needles of the secondmachine and the strip E knitted onto the toe, as shown in Fig. 7.Notches e e, as indicated by dotted lines, are then cut into the strip.E, as before, and the edges of the cuts are seamed together. The edgesof the strip are also seamed to the upper part of the foot of thestocking; but at the heel the stitches of the strip E and leg are loopedtogether by a machine, so as to leave no seam, but to produce a stockingsuch as shown in Fig.- 5.

Where the strip E is knitted onto the heel, as above described, it isnot necessary to make go the strip E include the whole of the toe. Itmay simply include the under side of the toe, as shown in Fig. 6. In allcases, however, the important feature is the forming of the stock ingwith the sole-piece of different material from the leg of the stockingand upper part of the foot, and this without any seam either at the backof the heel or on the under side of the foot.

It has heretofore been proposed to make the foot part of a stockingseparate from the leg portion by knitting the leg of the stocking downto the point where the foot commences, knitting the feet and heelportions as a fiat web with selvage edges, and then connecting the endsof such foot portions to the leg portion and joining the selvage edgesof the said foot portions by seaming. By making the stocking in such amanner, however, the upper part of the foot must be of the same materialor yarn as thelower portion, so that if it were desired to use adifferent yarn for the sole of the foot from that for the leg in such astocking the upper part of the foot also would have to be of yarn of acolor or character differing from the yarn from which the leg of thestocking is knitted. In my stocking, however, by forming the upper partof the foot in the same piece with theleg portion the objection pointedout is removed, and my stocking can be worn with slippers where theother stocking cannot.

I claim as my invention- 1.. The mode herein described of makingstockings, said mode consisting in forming the leg and upper part of thefoot in one piece, transferring this blank' to another machine,

knitting a strip thereon of different yarn to form the heel and sole,and securing the edges of the strip to the upper part of the foot,substantially as set forth.

2. The mode herein described of making ELIJAH G. CHESTER.

Witnesses:

JOHN T. LEWIs, HARRY SMITH.

